Lawmakers agreed last week to appropriate $20 million to a settlement fund created to compensate the survivors of abuse at state-run youth facilities.
The figure represents less than the $55 million requested by the new administrator of the fund but enough to resume resolution proceedings in August, following a yearlong pause.
The allocation, if approved by Gov. Kelly Ayotte and the Executive Council next month, would be the first since the current biennial budget was finalized last year. Without a new appropriation, the fund had been set to run out of money in October, according to administrator Gerard Boyle.
Members of the legislature’s fiscal committee balked at the $55 million request because of the state’s current financial situation. However, they encouraged Boyle to return with a new request in the fall, after the body had more clarity about potential surpluses following the conclusion of the current fiscal year and completion of the state’s annual comprehensive financial report.
Boyle said in an interview on Monday that he plans to make a second request in September — potentially for the remaining $35 million that he believes is necessary to administer the fund during the fiscal year that starts July 1.
He said that the $20 million would allow him to hold hearings through the end of 2026.
“I was very pleased with the response” from the fiscal committee, Boyle said. “They certainly understood the severity of making sure we get up and we get properly funded, but I also understand their constraints with their fiscal issues right now.”
Not counting the $20 million, the state has appropriated $185 million to the fund since it was created in 2022. The amount the state has agreed to pay survivors through 2035 already exceeds that figure by $66 million, according to the fund’s latest report.
With almost 1,700 claims in the fund still unresolved, Boyle estimated the settlements and associated administrative costs could ultimately cost the state a total of almost $1 billion.
Where the state will find that money remains to be seen. Lawmakers on Friday tasked the Office of the Legislative Budget Assistant with researching how other states have funded settlement payments in similarly-sized abuse scandals.
Some members of the legislative committee acknowledged that the interests of the state and those of survivors might be at odds.
“All of us are sickened by what happened at the Youth Development Center,” Democratic Rep. Peter Leishman said. “But I also am concerned about the state’s financial health going forward — that this is kind of like a runaway train as far as expense.”
Boyle said he plans to structure almost all settlements in 10-year payouts going forward, which would spread out the state’s financial obligations. But the settlements would also accrue interest.
The awards are determined based on a matrix that assigns specific amounts of money for various types of abuse. The administrator is responsible for determining what abuse occurred.
Boyle was appointed administrator of the fund in March, after significant changes enacted last year led the original administrator, former Justice John Broderick, to quit. Broderick maintains that the changes effectively eliminated his job.
Boyle, a former circuit court judge, said he planned to make several tweaks to the fund that he hoped would expedite the resolution of claims and save the state money. Among those changes, he planned to reduce the number of employee positions in the office and establish an optional mediation process.
Boyle said in an interview that he would also ask the law firms that represent significant numbers of survivors to voluntarily reduce their contingency fees. The law that established the fund caps attorneys’ fees at 33.3% of a plaintiff’s recovery, but some lawmakers have argued that percentage is too high, given that representing a client in the fund does not require complex litigation.
“I will be asking claimants’ attorneys who represent a lot of these claimants to reduce that fee so that we can have more money available to pay out to claimants,” he said.
Boyle said he plans to hold six resolution proceedings per week, starting the second week of August. He said the proceedings will generally be scheduled in the order in which claimants entered the fund.
